8/12/02
twin cities nurses won a landmark victory this week when an administrative law judge ruled in favor of 20 rns who were denied temporary employment because of their participation in a june 2001 strike. the judge ruled that the nurses be "made whole...for any loss of earnings." http://www.mnnurses.org/

st. paul - twenty registered nurses who exercised their legal right to strike against an employer have won an unfair labor practice action against seven metro hospitals. the announcement from administrative law judge william pannier upholds an earlier judgment by the national labor relations board that the healthcare employers "committed unfair labor practices affecting commerce by refusing to consider temporary employment and by refusing to temporarily employ" the nurses specifically because they were participating in a strike. the hospitals were found to violate sections 8(a)(3) and (1) of the national labor relations act.

judge pannier's ruling ordered that nineteen members of the minnesota nurses association (mna) who were employed by fairview health systems in june, 2001 during a 23-day job action are to be "made whole . . . . for any loss of earnings and other benefits suffered as a result of the discrimination against him or her." the employers are also required to pay interest on amounts owed. specific dollar amounts are yet to be calculated.

"this is a significant victory on behalf of our nurses and for others involved in the collective bargaining process," said phillip finkelstein, mna labor counsel. "the right to strike is meaningless if other employers are free to discriminate against striking nurses." the ruling named abbott northwestern hospital, mercy hospital, north memorial medical center, methodist hospital, the healtheast hospitals (st. joseph's, st. john's and bethesda), unity hospital and united hospital as engaging in unfair labor practices.

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And some people wonder why there is a such a "nursing shortage" in hospitals. All the nursing school scholarships in the world will do nothing for institutions like this. And the financial cost to the instutions involved were miminal. Just what they would have paid anyway (plus interest, big deal). Obviously not a meaningful object lesson to other hospitals.

The Minnesota Nurses Association has prevailed against seven Twin Cities hospitals in a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board regarding last year's nurses strike.
The nurses union claimed that 20 striking nurses at two Fairview hospitals were blackballed last summer when they tried to get temporary nurse jobs at other hospitals.

Most hospitals rely heavily on temporary nursing services.

The seven hospitals refused to hire the 20 Fairview nurses specifically because they were on strike -- an "unfair labor practice," the union claimed. The NLRB's Minneapolis office agreed, and an administrative law judge recently concurred.

The hospitals' association couldn't be reached for comment. The hospitals can appeal the decision to the full National Labor Relations Board in Washington D.C.

The hospitals are Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, North Memorial, Methodist, Unity, United and the HealthEast Hospitals.